Preview East Kilbride

Saturday, 27th Jul 2019

Betfred Cup: (home) Saturday 27th July 2019, kick off 3.00pm at East End Park

Lowland League Champions, East Kilbride pay their first visit to East End Park to round off the group stage of the Betfred Cup and they come with the possibility of winning Group H if they can register a victory.

It will probably the first time most Pars fans will get sight of the ‘Kilbys’ but judging on their results so far in the group this will not be as easy a tie as some would have anticipated when they saw the non league side drawn in the Pars group.

Their manager Stuart Malcolm took over from Brian Kerr when he left to become assistant to Gary Caldwell at Partick Thistle. Defeat in his first game in charge was only a temporary setback, with his team proceeding to register 21 wins out of the next 23 games and securing the Lowland League title with a win over Spartans at Ainslie Park on 26th March.

Stevie Crawford has said:-

“East Kilbride are in the Lowland League but seem to have added decent quality to their side, boys who have played at higher levels. We know that they will fancy their chances as underdogs.”

The club has gone through several incarnations in its history with the original version being formed in 1871 which make it older than Rangers, Celtic and Dunfermline. The modern club was formed in 2010 following on the merger of Stewartfield FC and Jackton Boys Club with a couple of local clubs RK Diamonds and EK Wanderers subsequently incorporated into the structure.

Initially the club played in the Scottish Amateur Football League gaining it’s election into the senior leagues in June 2013. Elected to membership of the South of Scotland League for 2013-2014, they found themselves playing in the Lowland Football League instead.

Granted full membership of SFA in April 2014, EK built on its mid table finish in the club’s debut season, it went on to secure runners up spot the following season. They lifted the title in 2016-2017 and again 2018-2019 while being runners up again in the intervening season.

Their title successes have, under the terms of the pyramid system, earned the club a play off place against their fellow champions in the Highland League with the prize being the right to challenge the SPFL League Two bottom dogs for a place in the fourth tier.

In 2017 Kilby cleared the play off hurdle by beating their highland counterparts , only to fall at the final fence in the two legged play off against Division Two, Cowdenbeath. Knocking on the door again this year, the K-Park men lost out to Highland League Cove Rangers with the Aberdeen outfit going on to gain their place in League Two by defeating Berwick Rangers.

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